I received an ebook version of The Lost Love Song via Netgalley. This review forms my honest opinion.
Blurb
Arie and Diana were destined to be together.
Arie falls for Diana in a heartbeat. Their love creates a life for them, a marriage and a home. Pianist Diana wants to capture this in a song for Arie.
But that’s not where the story ends…
After Diana debuts their song to a room full of strangers, tragedy strikes and Arie never gets to hear it.
There’s still a verse to come.
Diana’s melody lives beyond her and the lost love song begins to find its way back home. Can it help Arie to find new hope, and a new love?
Review
I’ve read quite a few books this year which heavily focus on music, and I love what Minnie Darke has done with The Lost Love Song. Diana Clare, an acclaimed pianist writes a love song for her fiance, Arie, it’s more than just a song though, as it conveys everything she feels and yet cannot say in words. But then tragedy strikes. This song, unheard by Arie, then becomes a character in its own right, evolving and touching lives the world over as it journeys from person to person. It’s a beautiful concept, that this musical legacy can hold so much power and be so affecting to so many people. I absolutely loved it.
Whilst the story focuses very much on Arie and his coming to terms with Diana’s death, I actually found myself most drawn to the song’s journey. Whilst introducing so many characters and connections could have been confusing, not to mention problematic in terms of disrupting the main story arc, it is delivered perfectly. The reader is allowed to dip into characters lives for a short while, and it’s a testament to the skill of the author that these characters so seamlessly slip into the narrative, and I found myself very quickly drawn into their story, and wanting more from them. As the song travelled it seemed to gather strength, becoming fully formed ahead of the ending, which was just so lovely and I adored picking up on all the threads that had been gathered up throughout, culminating in a fatalistic climax.
It’s a gorgeous novel, and one I absolutely adored. There is an ethereal quality woven throughout the narrative, with love and loss sitting side by side throughout, each strengthened by the other. It wasn’t quite the easy read I was expecting, and the chapter which details Diana’s death I think will haunt me for quite some time, as the descriptions were so vivid that I felt as if I were there in that moment. Death is not meant to be an easy topic, but I think the author has done a wonderful job of creating something beautiful from something so tragic.
Emma R. 